UU sermon based on Moore's Care of the Soul

Anthony Makar

At the beginning of this month Rev. Anthony Makar, senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, Georgia talks about Care of the Soul":

"Wounds become wisdom. Our fourth Unitarian Universalist principle that affirms a free and responsible search for truth and meaning — it’s often a wounding way. The wound is where the light comes in.

That’s what I want to talk about today, as refracted through the fascinating thought of Thomas Moore and his book, Care of the Soul, originally published in 1992 and still going strong."

Find your own religion within traditional settings

Is there a church that gets being spiritual but not religious? First United in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada asked this as part of a promotional campaign mentioned in "Spiritual but Secular" by Anne Bokma for the United Church Observer last month.

Bokma writes, "In his book A Religion of One’s Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World, Thomas Moore, a psychotherapist and former monk in New England, describes this new individualized spirituality as one that relies on an internal compass rather than an authoritative faith."

She says, "It may be tempting for those in organized religions to scoff, but there’s no denying church attendance is dwindling while other forms of spirituality, however loosely defined they may be, are flourishing." Bokma observes,"The growing tide of the SBNR [spiritual but not religious] proves one thing hasn’t changed — people remain eager for a sense of the spiritual on this mortal plane. The need to understand our human experience and gain a sense of inner peace hasn’t gone away."

She asks, "Does this group have something to teach churchgoers about finding purpose, meaning and community?"